The Russians were warned about a new type of fraud: collecting money for the participants of the CBO

Why mobilized honey, paintball helmets and quadrocopters

A medal has two sides, as you know, even if it is a combat medal. Therefore, at a time when campaigns are being held across the country to collect aid for the mobilized, there are those who want to warm their hands on this. All sorts of fundraiser scams are in full bloom, but telephone “setups” are in the lead. Not all tons of collected cargo reach the addressee …

A private but symptomatic case of non-targeted redistribution of aid was the incident in Orel. A middle-aged woman knits and even sells her products, they are recognizable. I knitted on a voluntary basis a batch of warm socks for the mobilized and handed them over to the humanitarian aid collection point. Then I went to the market and saw my socks on the counter there. It became bad with her heart – in fact, this story was published by the paramedic of the ambulance, who took her away.

The investigation is personally handled by the mayor of the city. There is no official information yet, but it seems that law enforcement officers discovered a fake point for receiving help from the population in the Southern Market. It was there that the pensioner took her products, and yet there is no market among the addresses of city collections of assistance for the mobilized (there are three of them in Orel).

Another case was made public by a resident of the Chelyabinsk region. They collected a parcel from the whole village, where, among other things, there was stew. Then he went to a store in a neighboring village – this is the same stew. “Exactly ours, the same number of cans, with buckwheat and just,” the frustrated man beats his chest, “and one crumpled can just like ours. And the company is rare for our region, we ordered it by acquaintance … “

“Our people are responsive and scammers take advantage of this,” says Alexander Kostyunin, an expert at the law enforcement center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. – It has always been like this, and today new schemes have been added. Especially with the use of mobile phones, they are in the lead. And, of course, the criminals could not get around such a high-profile topic as mobilization and everything connected with it. Fake fundraisers by phone, messages to a “short number”, an offer to “participate in an action of assistance” … Not a single fund, municipality – no one in the Russian Federation collects money for mobilized people by phone. There are hotlines, but they do not collect, but offer help. If they call you with a fundraiser for the mobilized, they are definitely scammers. Well, fake aid collection points, yes, unfortunately, they also appeared.

Law enforcement officers advise checking information about the collection point on the Internet and giving parcels only to verified places. The main risk group, of course, are people of post-retirement age who are gullible and at odds with smartphones. Therefore, in Moscow, for example, they authorized district police officers to walk around the apartments of old people and talk about new types of fraud. Including those related to SVO.

However, when gifts reach the right place, they often do not please the recipients. This is especially true not of private, but of public initiatives organized by officials. Dried dryers and gingerbread, tons of honey or cheap quadrocopters are still back and forth. But the rubber berets and paintball helmets that were received by those mobilized in the Stavropol Territory are already too much. The fighters said that in helmets they felt like “participants in Star Wars”, but they thanked their native region for pea jackets, thermal underwear, raincoats and thermoses. Even in social networks, airsoft body armor and plastic helmets appeared, which were also sent to the NVO by the concerns of local administrations.

Either out of ignorance, or through inattention, fitness mats instead of tourist bedding, uninsulated boots and many other things that, in conditions close to combat, may not be useful, but even harmful, end up on the front line. Therefore, the list of things, products, medicines for sending parcels has recently been updated, it is in news agencies. Meat (as well as fish) canned food, by the way, can be sent, although they used to say that you can’t send stew. And you can also tea, coffee, dried fruits, nuts, crackers and even salted lard. What kind of things are often forgotten to take with you, which means that this is not enough? These are “consumables”: knitted gloves for a shift, balaclavas, balaclavas. Also, experienced people are advised to send more antiseptics and remedies for indigestion to the war zone.